Significant efforts are underway to explore and develop hydrocarbon resources in extreme environments such as the Arctic Ocean. Resource development is hampered in arctic regions by numerous hazards including ice, which impedes transportation and requires structures suitable to withstand the tremendous pressures exerted by multi-year floes (sheets of floating ice). Multi-year ice is understood to be ice which has survived at least one summer melting period and is thus more compacted and harder than newer ice. Structures capable of surviving such extreme conditions are generally expensive and tend to hamper production of the resource. Specialized structures are therefore needed to improve the economic viability of offshore hydrocarbon recovery.
While the present disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the present disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.